Seven days in medicine: 29 June to 5 July 2016

NHS services

Children were put at risk at Bristol hospital

Babies and children treated for congenital heart problems at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, UK, were put at “a clear risk of harm” on a ward staffed by too few nurses, an independent review concluded. Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, set up the “Bristol review” to consider the safety and quality of children’s cardiac services in Bristol from March 2010 after pressure from parents. It found “evidence that, on a number of occasions, the care was less good and that parents were let down.” (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.i3682)

Online medical records are all set

Over 95% of general practices in England are set up to offer online access to detailed general practice records including test results and diagnoses, as well as referrals, immunisations, procedures, and drug history. This has risen from just 3% of practices in January this year, figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre showed. In March 2016 some 8.5 million patients signed up to make appointments online, and 1.4 million appointments were booked or cancelled online during March—an increase of over 100% from April 2015. “No show” rates in …